Skip main navigation

New lower prices! Get up to 50% off 1000s of courses. 

Explore courses

How is addiction understood in Islam?

Dr Ali explains how addiction is understood in Islam, using verses from the Quran and classical Islamic sources

In this video, Dr Ali explains how addiction is understood in Islam, using verses from the Quran and classical Islamic sources and the writing of the Muslim Sufi mystic Jalaluddin al-Rumi (popularly known as Rumi, see Ali 2017).

Addiction tethers the human spirit and body to earthly concerns, preventing the spirit from returning to God. From this perspective, addiction can be seen as sinful, or as a punishment, because it challenges the core of Muslim identity by negatively affecting a person’s relationship with God.

Modern Muslim scholars have developed an alternative conceptualisation of addiction, based around whether the person who is living with addiction has autonomy. Whilst certain acts, such as recreational drug use or gambling are sinful, once a person becomes addicted and is unable to exercise self-control, they should be treated with compassion because they have lost their autonomy. Therefore, they require support from both specialist services and the Muslim community.

In this video at 01:45 Dr Ali says: “God breathed his spirit into Adam”. The quotation from the Qur’an referred to reads:

So when I have fashioned him and had a spirit of My Own ˹creation˺ breathed into him, fall down in prostration to him.” (Qur’an 15:29)
At 02:05 Dr Ali says: “Human beings are also made from clay”. The quotation from the Qur’an referred to reads:
Indeed, We created man from sounding clay moulded from black mud. (Qur’an 15:26)

Over to you

How does the Islamic conceptualisation of addiction, as explained by Dr Ali in this video, relate to your own understanding? Are there any contradictions or similarities?

Share your response below and, if possible, include your professional background so that other learners can appreciate how there may be different approaches from practitioners of various backgrounds.

This article is from the free online

Understanding Mental Health in Muslim Communities

Created by
FutureLearn - Learning For Life

Reach your personal and professional goals

Unlock access to hundreds of expert online courses and degrees from top universities and educators to gain accredited qualifications and professional CV-building certificates.

Join over 18 million learners to launch, switch or build upon your career, all at your own pace, across a wide range of topic areas.

Start Learning now